Contested primary winners:
3rd District
Republican Ken Siler is a retired engineer and farm operator. He believes public transportation and housing deficiencies are the biggest problems facing the county, and says he’d like to reduce millage costs for property tax payers. After defeating Jacob Ehrman (R) with 55 percent of the vote, Siler will face off against incumbent Democrat Shannon Beeman. 2018’s 3rd District general election was decided by 200 votes — by far the county’s closest.
4th District
Democrat Caroline Sanders is a former auto union leader. She believes failure to address racial inequities is Washtenaw County’s biggest problem, and says she wants to continue the foundation laid by the Pittsfield Promise coalition. Sanders won 54 percent of the vote in a four-way race, and will face Republican Michelle Nicholai in the heavily Democratic district’s general election.
5th District
Democrat Justin Hodge is an assistant professor of social work at the University of Michigan. He believes transportation should not be a barrier to seeing a healthcare provider, and says he will fight for financial services that help residents build wealth and stay out of debt. After narrowly winning a four-way race with 33 percent of the vote, Hodges told The Daily he’s grateful for the voters of Washtenaw County, Ypsilanti Township and Augusta Township.
“It looks like our message of opportunity for all, and addressing the health and safety inequities in our county really resonated with people, and I’m excited to get to work,” Hodges said. “We still have to win the general election in November, so we’ll be working hard to do that and continue to get the message out here.”
Hodge will face Republican Timothy A. King in the general election.
Uncontested primary winners:
1st District
Incumbent Jason Maciejewski (D)
Rod Anderson (R)
2nd District
Incumbent Sue Shink (D)
Scott Inman (R)
3rd District
Incumbent Shannon Beeman (D)
4th District
Michelle Nicholai (R)
5th District
Timothy A. King (R)
6th District
Incumbent Ricky Jefferson (D)
Tom Banks (R)
7th District
Incumbent Andy LaBarre (D)
Joe Miriani (R)
8th District
Incumbent Jason Morgan (D)
Joan Knoertzer (R)
9th District
Incumbent Katie Scott (D)
Terry M. Linden (R)
Democrats garnered over 70 percent of 2018’s vote in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th District general elections and the 3rd District had the closest Democratic win against a Republican candidate. Democrats also won the 1st and 2nd Districts handily in 2018.
Summer News Editor Calder Lewis can be reached at calderll@umich.edu.